My best score is 146.441 as of writing, run here. Another short review, wrote this one pretty quickly.
Ninja Gaiden essence: the game. If you've played NG that should immediately give you an idea of the type of interactions at play here, but if you haven't Yeahlookiehere has a good review, I won't bother repeating it all. I would just add that the official replay website is simple to use, and the spider and fish enemies are very well-designed. The core design is pretty damn solid, the devs are clearly on the right track and know what to go for.
However, there are some notable issues that started getting under my skin after a bunch of runs. It's clear that the devs have made giving the player lots of information a priority, but nonetheless readability can be an issue. Certainly the aesthetic is unique and striking, but the spherical projection combined with only having one main color for enemies makes things blend into a black-and-gold soup at times. The spider re-emerging is especially prone to get lost in this, which can be quite deadly. For some reason enemies will disappear from view if they go into the darkness, a very odd decision. Usually this isn't too bad, but for the skulls and especially the centipede it gets very obnoxious.
The centipede in general doesn't fit this game well IMO, apparently it's a carryover from Devil Daggers. It doesn't really interact with the essence system at all, and the only reliable way to deal with it seems to be to stand under it and shoot, but then it becomes difficult to see because it's so large and can curl in on itself. Laser ricochet feels a bit awkward to use, it's difficult to tell what (if anything) it will go for in many situations and big shots have a tendency to wet-noodle and not do much. Grab and laser being bound to the same key is a major design flaw, you will naturally be wanting to aim your laser at the big gems so it's very easy to accidentally mouse over and grab them instead. Stomp has a similar issue, and not having access to it out of normal jumps feels counterintuitive, especially in the heat of the moment.
Despite my issues, the game is lots of fun overall. Any fan of fast-paced arcadey action or Ultrakill's Cyber Grind should add it to their list, it's well worth a spin.
Edit: The final boss sucks ass
Ninja Gaiden essence: the game. If you've played NG that should immediately give you an idea of the type of interactions at play here, but if you haven't Yeahlookiehere has a good review, I won't bother repeating it all. I would just add that the official replay website is simple to use, and the spider and fish enemies are very well-designed. The core design is pretty damn solid, the devs are clearly on the right track and know what to go for.
However, there are some notable issues that started getting under my skin after a bunch of runs. It's clear that the devs have made giving the player lots of information a priority, but nonetheless readability can be an issue. Certainly the aesthetic is unique and striking, but the spherical projection combined with only having one main color for enemies makes things blend into a black-and-gold soup at times. The spider re-emerging is especially prone to get lost in this, which can be quite deadly. For some reason enemies will disappear from view if they go into the darkness, a very odd decision. Usually this isn't too bad, but for the skulls and especially the centipede it gets very obnoxious.
The centipede in general doesn't fit this game well IMO, apparently it's a carryover from Devil Daggers. It doesn't really interact with the essence system at all, and the only reliable way to deal with it seems to be to stand under it and shoot, but then it becomes difficult to see because it's so large and can curl in on itself. Laser ricochet feels a bit awkward to use, it's difficult to tell what (if anything) it will go for in many situations and big shots have a tendency to wet-noodle and not do much. Grab and laser being bound to the same key is a major design flaw, you will naturally be wanting to aim your laser at the big gems so it's very easy to accidentally mouse over and grab them instead. Stomp has a similar issue, and not having access to it out of normal jumps feels counterintuitive, especially in the heat of the moment.
Despite my issues, the game is lots of fun overall. Any fan of fast-paced arcadey action or Ultrakill's Cyber Grind should add it to their list, it's well worth a spin.
Edit: The final boss sucks ass
2 Comments
@vidyacult Thanks, I'll keep that in mind if I return to this game.
Yeahlookiehere
1 year ago
The little skull snake things achieve a similar purpose (blocking your line of sight + warding off chunks of the map) but also interact with the powerups in an interesting way. The 2 bosses feel like duds...
I appreciate the game's commitment to an arcade-y 3 button setup, but I 100% agree, one more button would've done wonders.
Overall, another great review!!